The Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith is back for a new series alongside Paul Hollywood but she has candidly opened up about imposter syndrome, which she says she’s suffered with for years

Prue has been open about a struggle she faces(Image: Channel 4)

Prue Leith has opened up about the lifelong syndrome she has suffered with since she found fame. The Great British Bake Off star is back on our screens tonight for the new series of the hit Channel 4 show.

She will judge the new bakers alongside Paul Hollywood, with Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond hosting the hit programme. However, Prue has opened up about her struggles ahead of the upcoming series.

Speaking ahead of the new series, she said: “I don’t think anybody who’s highly successful doesn’t think, ‘How did I get here? This is ridiculous. I don’t deserve it.’ If that’s imposter syndrome, certainly I do have it.

Prue and Paul are back for a new series(Image: Channel 4)

“And I put it down to amazing good luck. And the fact that I have a lot of energy, which is God-given. I can’t take any credit for the fact that I wake up in the morning and think, let’s do it!”

Prue has been open about her health battles over the year and ageing, admitting there are things she loved that she struggles to do now. Speaking about her love for gardening, she said: “We’ve got a new potting shed and greenhouse and I’m thrilled. It’s full of plants I had in childhood in South Africa, like bright bougainvillaea.

“I like propagating because my back hurts and I can do it on a high stool. I’m not as hands-on as I’d like because I’m no longer able to be. I find it vaguely surprising I can’t do certain things any longer.”

Prue also recalled how she struggles to get out of bed in the morning and is “very conscious” that she is getting older.

“Age stinks, come on, it takes me 10 minutes to get myself out of bed in the morning. If I don’t do my exercises, I can’t move,” she said, “There are all sorts of things that are wrong with old age, you’re very conscious that this is nearly the end. You then decide that you’re going to make the most of it and have fun.”

Prue is of the belief that women can’t have it all – and neither should they try.

“By 1969, I opened the restaurant, and the ’70s was my most busy year, because then I opened the cookery school, and everything was doing incredibly well,” she explained, “And my children were born in 1974. So by the time I had my babies – one baby and adopted the other one – I would get first an au pair and then a nanny … No, you can’t have it all. I would not have been a good full-time mother. I would have found the company of young children all the time boring and tiring.”